MĀORILAND HONOURS RAUKAWA FILMMAKER LARRY PARR

Larry Parr (Ngāti Raukawa, Muaūpoko) is a longtime ‘mover and shaker’ in New Zealand’s screen industry, a man whose career has ridden the booms and busts of the business. For a period in the mid-1980s he was one of the most prolific producers New Zealand had yet seen, with a roster that ranged from Constance through teen movie Queen City Rocker, to mood piece Starlight Hotel. Parr has also been a scriptwriter, director and TV executive, and helped bring landmark Maori anthology series E Tipu e Rea to the screen.

In 2005, Parr was appointed as head of programming at the newly formed Māori Television. A milestone during this time was the award-winning 2006 documentary Anzac Day, which Parr believes secured the place of Maori Television in the NZ broadcasting landscape.

In November 2008, Larry Parr left the channel to start as television manager at Te Māngai Pāho, an organisation set up to fund Māori radio and television programmes.

At this special session we celebrate Parr’s contribution to film and particularly, Māori film over the past 25 years.